06/15/12 06/15/12 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is "democracy now!" >> since january 28, 2011, we have said the military council is worse in the mubarak regime. after 15 months of the revolution, there were clear signs of that intention of the military council. >> a judicial coup in egypt, days before the country's presidential runoff, egypt's supreme court dissolves the newly elected parliament and hand power back to the military. the court also rules hosni mubarak's former prime minister can run for president. we will speak with sharif abdel kouddous from cairo.

president obama and mitt romney hold major addresses on the economy. >> many people are hurting, have had tough times. >> the debate in this election is about how we grow and create jobs and how we pay down our debts. that is the question facing the american voters. a >> as the financial crisis wipes out two decades of wealth for the average u.s. household, why has president obama failed to support increasing the minimum wage, despite his promise in 2008? >> i will be raising the minimum wage every single year to keep pace with inflation. because if you're working, you should not be poor in america. >> today, longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate ralph nader on the minimum wage, poverty, and the presidential race. >> he still is not able to use

the word "poverty." it is always to cut middle- class." yes 60 million, 70 million people living in poverty. >> all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. protests have erupted in egypt after the supreme constitutional court ruled to dissolve the newly elected parliament and decreed former regime leaders can hold political office. the decision to annul the muslim brotherhood led parliament effectively places legislative power in the hands of the ruling supreme council of armed forces. it is managed egypt's transition since the ouster of president mubarak in february 2011. the muslim brotherhood has slammed the decision calling it a coup. the court also rubber stamp the candidacy of mubarak's former prime minister and current presidential hopeful, ahmed shafiq.

it was just two days before he was to square off against muslim brotherhood candidate mohamed morsi. we will speak with democracy now sharif abdel kouddous after headlines. in news from shariah, violence and shelling by certain reports across the country is the government attempts to reclaim areas held by rebels opposed to president bashar al-assad. the attacks, day after u.n. monitors described widespread carnage in the village of al heffa, in northwestern syria, which had been under siege by government forces. monitors to tour the town found it was largely deserted, with buildings torched and the stench of dead bodies still in the air. meanwhile, human-rights watch is reporting syrian government forces have used extensive sexual violence to torture men, women, and boys detained during the uprising. the group reports soldiers and pro-government militias have sexually abused women and girls as young as 12 while sweeping through residential areas and

raiding homes. britain's supreme court has rejected wikileaks founder julian assange's bid to have it reconsider its approval of his extradition to sweden. swedish authorities want to question assange over accusations of rape and sexual assault made by two women. assange's lawyers had argued the swedish public prosecutor did not have the legal authority to issue the arrest warrant as assange has not even been formally charged. but british judges ruled against assange late last month and reaffirmed a decision on thursday. assange has been given another 14 days to leave britain. attorneys say he may file a last-ditch appeal to the european court of human rights in strasbourg. supporters have voiced fears assange will wind up in the hands of the united states should he be deported. the u.s.-led occupation of afghanistan has reached the milestone of 2000 dead u.s. servicemembers in the nearly 12- year war. the number of afghans killed

during that same time period is unknown, a far more. bahrain medics spoke out on thursday one day after an appeals court upheld their convictions for treating demonstrators during anti- government protests. nine medics received sentences ranging from one month to five years, while nine others had their cases dismissed. two of the medics said their convictions were baseless. >> the only crime we have done is treating the wounded people. this sentence is very harsh. we consider it inappropriate. it does not suit medical personnel who a been a practice for the last 23 years. >> i did march and rally against the ex minister,

[unintelligible] that was my only crime. i have five years. it is quite clear this is a political verdict. >> the trial of the medical personnel is seen as a key test of the u.s.-backed bahrain monarchy's avowed commitment to political reform. in response to the verdict, the u.s. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, michael posner, said the u.s. is "deeply disappointed" by the convictions the obama administration resumed military shipments to bahrain last month after a half year pause. one than 50 international aid groups and u.n. agencies have issued a joint appeal for an end to the israeli blockade of the gaza strip. the signatories include amnesty international, save the children, the world health organization, oxfam, the office of the high commissioner for human rights, and five other u.n. bodies.

issuing the appeal on thursday, u.n. and aid officials said israel's repeated attacks on gaza have poisoned its water supply. >> it has been said many times today is an important day to repeated, the blockade is illegal according to international law. 95% of the coastal offered -- 95%, the sole source of fresh water is not safe to drink. >> thursday's appeal came on the fifth anniversary of the blockade, when israel sought to punish gaza after hamas printed a u.s.-backed coup to subvert the results of 2006 palestinian elections. the washington post has revealed private u.s. contractors have been using spy planes to secretly search for ugandan rebel leader joseph kony since at least 2009. hired by the u.s. military, the contractors have flown unmarked spy planes over large swaths of

africa, ostensibly targeting and al qaeda and other militants. the planes are equipped with high-tech sensors and cameras that can film people from 10 miles away. joseph kony, who heads large resistance army, received new attention this year after an online video condemning him went viral. a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of guatemalans who were unknowingly exposed to syphilis, gonorrhea, and other sexually transmitted diseases by u.s. researchers in the 1940's. under the experiments, u.s. medical officials intentionally infected more than 2000 guatemalans sex workers, prisoners, soldiers, and mental patients in order to study the effects of penicillin no. on thursday, a u.s. district judge said federal laws bar suits for harm caused abroad. the obama administration had argued for the case's dismissal, saying sovereign immunity protects federal health officials from litigation stemming from the experiments.

venezuelan president hugo chávez has disclosed his government has begun producing surveillance drones after reports emerged u.s. prosecutors are examining their drone program in venezuela. in a televised speech, he said the country has built three drums with help from iran, that plans to use them only for defensive purposes. >> where also building a factory of unmannned drones. of course we are doing it. we have all the right to do so. probably, we would not have the right to do it if we were a colony. we are a free and independent country. here, all venezuelans rule and not the yankee empire or their footmen. >> former british prime minister tony blair found himself on the receiving end of an attempted citizen's arrest in hong kong thursday as he took the stage to deliver an address.

he had just been introduced to the crowd when an activist called for his arrest for helping the u.s. invade iraq in 2003. >> i am conducting a citizen's arrest. you misled the british people, cause the death of a least 100,000 people. [unintelligible] the u.n. charter -- >> thank you very much. a [applause] >> i think he had made your point. thank you, very much. i can wait with him for the police. i'm sorry, you have to go, i am afraid. you made your point. there it is. >> i am sure your used to this

all the time. >> i am used to it. [applause] >> with that, the protesters left the room and tony blair, the former british prime minister, continued his address. the texas billionaire r. allen stanford has been sentenced to 110 years in prison for running a massive ponzi scheme that defrauded victims of around $8 billion. he was found guilty of using his bank to defraud investors by selling them phony certificates of deposit. it was the biggest known case of investment fraud since the ponzi scheme run by new york financier bernie madoff. after the sentencing thursday, two of his victims spoke out. >> he refuses to accept blame. and a lot of ways, he has shown to be sociopathic. his world is about allen stanford. it is not about all of these people who lost their savings. these were just numbers to him. >> i told him, you deserve what

you get. you are a dirty rotten scoundrels. that is what he is. no remorse at all for the lives of victims all over the world. >> virginia circuit court has appointed an openly gay prosecutor to the bench just one month after state lawmakers rejected his judicial nomination. tracy thorne begland, a former navy officer and fighter pilot, failed to gain the necessary majority in may after republican opponents said he would push an activist agenda. he was the only candidate among more than three dozen judicial nominees to be rejected. two decades ago, he publicly disclosed his sexual orientation in a challenge to the military's ban on openly lgbt service members. republicans accused of sexual -- homosexual advocacy and said his sexual orientation would render him to be unable to be

impartial. his appointment is only temporary until virginia lawmakers begin the next session. [chanting] >> undocumented activists have occupied four obama campaign offices around the country in support of the dream act, which would grant children of undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship. since wednesday, the activists have staged sit ins at obama for america offices in oakland, cincinnati, los angeles, in detroit. obama has voiced support for the dream act, the activists are urging him to issue an executive order stopping the deportation of undocumented immigrants. the joint actions come days after two undocumented students occupied obama's denver campaign office and staged a hunger strike. organizers say similar protests will continue until the november elections. the father the slain black teenager trayvon martin has issued a father's day appeal for

a nationwide review of stand your ground, the purported self- defense law that critics say enabled his son's murder. in a video circulated the internet, tracy martin urged supporters to pressure their local governors' on similar laws in their states. >> this father's day will be the first without my son trayvon. i will say a prayer for all the dads across america who shared this greet with me. last year, 30,000 father's lost their son or daughter from senseless gun violence. dads, we have to come together to protect our children. i am asking you to consider sharing this message with the governor of your state. as the to review these dangerous laws. if we do, next year, thousands more fathers will have a happy father's day. >> trayvon martin's mother sybrina fulton issued a similar mother's day appeal last month. and those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. each its democratic transition was thrown into disarray thursday when the country's supreme constitutional court ruled to dissolve the newly elected parliament in what critics have described as a judicial coup. the decision effectively puts legislative power into the hands of the ruling supreme council of armed forces. in addition, the court ruled that former leaders of the mubarak regime, all political office, effectively approving the candidacy of former prime minister and presidential hopeful ahmed shafiq. the court decision is a major setback to supporters of last year's uprising as well as the muslim brotherhood, which held 46% of seats in the newly elected parliament. the court's decision comes two days before egyptians go to the polls for a presidential runoff between shafiq and the muslim brotherhood presidential candidate mohamed morsi. after thursday's ruling, morsi vowed to stay in the race but

said that any foul play in the election would be met by a new revolution. >> we will continue with our journey. if there's any fraud, we already know the consequences will be, the revolution against the criminals, against those who protect the criminals. a revolution until the goals of the january 25 revolution are fully achieved. >> after the ruling, protesters gathered outside egypt's constitutional court. >> this ruling is void. but what logic earthjustice can the one who killed our brothers and the person behind the battle and the one part of mubarak's regime and said mubarak is his role model, by what logic and we returned to the old regime? where is the justice in that? no revolution in the world brings back a tyrannical regime. this military council wants to bring back the old regime and us to return to being subservient. we will not go back.

we will continue to struggle against ahmed shafiq. >> to find out more about what is happening in egypt, we go to cairo to talk to "democracy now!" correspond sharif abdel kouddous. talk about what has developed over the last 24 hours in egypt. >> these court rulings have really dealt the final fatal blow to a military managed transitional process that has been so different as to barely make sense anymore. egypt is in the state right now where there is no parliament, the constitution, or even a clear process for drafting one. and a presidential runoff that will leave egypt to the roller who will be a very divisive president. the rulings release of shock waves. this is the cover of the privately owned newspaper. it says, "as you were."

the constitutional court returns of power to the military, it reads. there were two landmark rulings yesterday, the first of which was called a political isolation law. it was passed by the parliament in april, initially intended to target omar suleiuman who put themselves as a nominee in the race and was mubarak's first and only vice-president and longtime intelligence chief. he was disqualified for technical reasons from the race. the law would also apply to ahmed shafiq, mubarak's last prime minister appointed on january 29, 2011. so this law would have banned any top mubarak officials from running for office for 10 years. the law was passed, by the military council. however, the presidential elections commission refused to implement the law and instead referred to the supreme

constitutional court. yesterday they rule the law unconstitutional, thereby leaving a ahmed shafiq in the race, and the runoff is scheduled for tomorrow. what was more of a bigger blow was the sec ruling, which was the ruling that one-third of the way the parliament is elected, one-third of them was unconstitutional. the way the parliamentary elections were set up last fall were a complicated system. two-thirds of the candidates would be elected on a list based system also known as proportional representation. the other one-third would be individual candidates who would run for winner take all seats. in a last-minute change, they allowed members a party to run for the individual seats as well. it was that aspect the court yesterday ruled unconstitutional and effectively dissolve the parliament, the first really freely and fairly elected parliament in egypt for many decades. it effectively and the

legislature, the power of the legislature back to the military council. at the military council had that power up until january of this year when the parliament was first seated. the response has been ver -- varied, but many are calling it a coup. a former member of the muslim brotherhood and liberal thinker who came forth in the presidential race called it a coup. the muslim brotherhood has said it would respect the decision, the senior brotherhood members have called it a military coup. the man who came third in the presidential race is calling on the muslim brotherhood to not -- to pull out of the race and thereby delegitimizing the process. mohamed morsi, the presidential candidate of the muslim brotherhood, has pledged to go

on in the race, putting himself forward as the revolutionary candidate against mohamed morsi. these decisions yesterday were monumental. as the transition process over the course of these past 16 months, there's been a crisis of legitimacy at every turn, complicated court rulings at every turn, putting things into question. right now, it seems nearly all of the power is in the hands of the military council. while many have called it a coup, that happened yesterday, many also point to the fact this has been made a coup in 2011 with the military council replacing mubarak after his forced out of office. >> sharif abdel kouddous, what would happen now in terms of the ruling on the parliament? would they have to schedule new elections? obviously, the presidential election comes, and if morsi

wins, he will be faced basically with any president of having no government to work with. >> that is exactly right. he will be present without a parliament or constitution, so it is a very dangerous situation to be in and a very vague and unclear one. right now, parliament, the ruling yesterday does not actually -- it is not enforced until the military council actively dissolves parliament, but for all intents and purposes, parliament will be dissolved. the military council was scheduled or will scuttle parliamentary elections to be held. it is not clear when these will be held, under what rules they will be held. as so much else in this transition process, many things are vague. but what is clear is the military council has really taken control of the basic

aspects of what we were supposed to have been building in a post-mubarak's date these past few months. we have spent three months going to parliamentary elections. that has just been avoided. there's been no reform in security, no reform of the media or the judiciary. really, the mubarak regime is still very much a place -- to top it off, its last prime minister is now in a runoff against the muslim brotherhood, which is really the same political landscape that egypt has had for many decades now. >> is there any sense a possible exhaustion among the population in terms of the continued turmoil that might lead to a movement basically to restore order in which would benefit the old mubarak regime and as members of that old regime?

>> i mean, there has been this idea of people being tired of what they call a security vacuum, which police have not been really deployed on the street. protests have continued for these last months. many said they lack the leverage it once had to actually affect change. ahmed shafiq ran on a law and order platform, which has resonated with large segments of the electorate that placed him second in the first round of the elections. however, i think his success may also be attributed to the patronage network that are part of the national democratic party, mubarak's party, that we really did not see the parliamentary elections but has come back with a vengeance in the presidential election. i just went to a conference of his a couple of days ago. there were leading members of of the now dissolved party, and the

wife of the former assassinated president was there, of supporting ahmed shafiq for president, supporting him as a bulwark against the rise of the islamists, against the rise of the muslim brotherhood. he has a lot of support from the state that the protesters rose up against last year. >> egyptian activists had unveiled a campaign to boycott the elections, calling it a false choice under ongoing military rule. a boycott organizers said each its military rulers have effectively ruled -- rig the election to ensure the continued dominance. >> they do that, what they're trying to do is show was there is no other way for the revolution to continue except for collaborating. they make these elections

customized specifically for them so the result works perfectly for them. what we need to do is reject these elections, refuse to collaborate with them, and make sure we organize ourselves and vote for a labor strike and demonstrations and sit ins because that is how we use popular masses and workforce to cripple the regime, to bring it down, make it lose its power grid that is how there can be a balance of power and can then bring change. >> in an interview, ahmet el- baradei says he will not vote in the presidential election this weekend. he expects shafiq to win, but has harsh words for the muslim brotherhood. if you could comment on the boycott movement and also, as all these decisions came down yesterday, shafiq sounded like he had won in a statement he is making to the public, and the anger of mohamed morsi. >> the boycott movement has certainly grown, especially

after the first-round of the result -- after the results of the first round of presidential elections. i would say there's a small core of revolutionary youth who boycotted the first round of elections and the entire process been led by the military council was illegitimate. the boycott is being pushed further. i think it is growing. people, a leading intellectual who was press the backing the muslim brotherhood candidate, has now said he will boycott. there is a leading movement against it for a number of reasons. one is saying that the whole process is being rigged. there are questions to run in the first round of presidential elections. the commission distributive last-minute voter lists and behaved suspiciously. there are questions of legitimacy surrounding the polls but also the outcome, pitting

the muslim brotherhood, which is a conservative islamist group that in many ways is the mayor establishment of the one that has ruled egypt for 60 years, highly disciplined, secretive, its own set of patronage networks agreed not guilty of the same crimes as the regime. but putting that against a stalwart of the former regime. it is not just these two choices, the people is in the third choice is to refused to participate in this process. a lot of people will go in and have done so already, voting abroad, egyptians have spoiled their ballots, written on the military balance. the first round was much lower as far as turnout. many expect when the polls open tomorrow, there will be fewer people going to the polls as well. one other thing, a very important point to mention, it was announced this week that the

justice ministry decreed basically giving military officers, intelligence officers, military police the right to detain an arrest citizens, civilians. this actual decree was announced on the 13th, but was made june 4. that is just four days after egypt's 30-year emergency law finally expired. a small gain in the transitional process, or egypt had lived under emergency law for so long and now the minister of justice issues the decree basically allowing these widespread powers of search and detention by the military. 17 egyptian human rights groups condemned it calling it a war substitute in the state of emergency. all of these factors combined with these court rulings, with ahmed shafiq in the race, throws

the entire transitional process into question. many say it is -- >> sharif abdel kouddous, thank you for joining us. we will speak to you next week at the end of this election cycle to see what happens. speaking to us from cairo, egypt. to see all of his reports, go to democracynow.org. when we come back, former presidential candidate, consumer activist ralph nader on president obama and mitt romney, their speeches on the state of the economy and the battleground state of ohio and much more. stay with us. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> we turn now to the economy. thursday, presidential rivals republican mitt romney and president barack obama gave major addresses in ohio. both the and the slow economic recovery on each other's parties. romney spoke first in cincinnati. >> he is going to be a person of eloquence, as he describes his plans for making the economy better. but don't forget, he has been president for 3.5 years. talk is cheap. actions speak loud. if you want to see the results of his economic policies, look around ohio, look around the country and you'll see a lot of people are hurting. a lot of people have had real tough times. >> meanwhile, at a rally in cleveland, president obama acknowledged the slow economic recovery. he cast his re-election battle with mitt romney as a clash between contrasting philosophies on how to fix it. >> the debate in this election

is not about whether we need to grow faster or whether we need to create more jobs or whether we need to pay down our debts. of course the economy is not where it needs to be. of course we have a lot more work to do. everybody knows that. the debate in this election is about how we grow faster and how we create more jobs and how we pay down our debts. that is the question facing the americans. >> concerns about the troubled economy have helped push obama's approval ratings to their lowest level since january. but a new gallup poll finds that two-thirds of americans blame his republican predecessor, george w. bush, for the downturn. >> many economists say more jobs could be created by generating more consumer demand. well, a new bill introduced by illinois democratic rep jesse jackson, jr. aims to do that --

by increasing minimum wage for the first time since 2007. he said it could generate tens of billions of dollars in spending by poor families and workers almost immediately. congressmember jackson recently introduced the catching up to 1968 act of 2012. it draws its name from the idea that the federal minimum wage would be $10.55 an hour now if it had kept up with inflation over the past 40 years. instead, it's $7.25. while the bill has about 20 co- sponsors, so far president obama has yet to endorse it, despite a campaign promise he made in 2008. his poverty agenda included a pledge to "raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011" so that "full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing." when prominent supporter of increasing the minimum wage is ralph nader. he joins us from washington,

d.c. his latest book is, "getting steamed to overcome corporatism: build it together to win." ralph nader, welcome back to "democracy now!" start off by talking about the minimum wage bill that congress member jackson has put forward and what president obama is doing about it. >> president obama has done nothing since he promised in 2008 to go to a $9.50 by 2011, as you pointed out. this is a problem of the democratic party. the case for the minimum wage going to $10 is overwhelming. that is why jesse jackson called it catching up with 1968. that is when the economy was half the size it is today, and half the worker productivity as today. if you look at the political scene, all the stars are aligned for the democratic party to take the lead and push this through congress in an election year.

for example, rick santorum and mitt romney have been on the record of st. day one the minimum wage -- saying what minimum wage keeping up with inflation. senator mcconnell and speaker boehner, over one half% of the republicans, splitting the ranks. furthermore, all this large membership groups like the afl- cio and the naacp, and many more, are for an increase in the minimum wage. this is a signal issue of the old democratic party. when the minimum which started in 193 and8 under president roosevelt -- in 1938 under president roosevelt. they do not even know a moral and political issue if it was put on their desk. jesse jackson, jr. has broken

ranks from the lethargy on capitol hill. he asked about 20 progressives in the house to support him. this is a jolting what everyone has been waiting for. the nfl has been waiting for george miller, senior congressmember from san francisco, the white house apparently is waiting for george miller, nancy pelosi is waiting for george miller. so in a few days, george miller, after 3.5 years of doing nothing, is going to put in a bill for a three-year stay going to $9.80 by 2014. that is not a political winner. if you go from $7.25 and catch up with 1968 by taking it to $10, that is 30 million workers you can appeal to. 30 million workers. that does not count the restaurant workers, and fast- food workers who are still at $2.55 an hour plus tips. who knows what they are in terms

of getting even to today's federal minimum wage? the federal minimum wage is lower than all western countries. ontario and canada has a minimum wage of $10.25. another star that has allied is this, they usually catered to the business community when there is a minimum wage increase in the past. they say, let's give them a tax break. under obama, the have already given 17 small business tax breaks. we all know that walmart and mcdonald's have got the tax system pretty well gained. with this gross inequity where workers in walmart are making $8, $9, $10 an hour before deductions with hardly any health insurance, and their boss, the ceo of walmart, is making $11,000 an hour, eight hours a day. you can see it is a great,

powerful, fair play political message if the democrats would rise up but i think we have to have another slogan. 30 million american workers a rise of. you have nothing to lose, but some of your debt. we of a website to mobilize these workers. timeforaraise.org. hr5901 is jesse jackson's bill. call the white house and ask for gene sperling, the economic adviser to mr. obama, and call your members. this thing can really role, especially the occupy movement begins to surrounding local congressional districts on this issue. >> i want to ask you about mitt romney's views on raising the minimum wage. this is what he said in january when approached on the campaign trail. >> allow the minimum wage to

rise with the cpi or another index so it adjusts over time. >> so you support that? >> that was my view as governor of massachusetts. >> mitt romney also supported raising the minimum wage in 2002 when he was running for governor. but speaking on cnbc in march, romney described how he vetoed such raise in 2006. >> when i was governor, the legislature passed a law raising the minimum wage. i vetoed it and said, look, the way to deal with it is this. on a regular basis, every two years we should look at the minimum wage. we should look at inflation and also look at the jobs level throughout the country, unemployment rate, competitive rates in other states -- in this case, other nations. you should identify what is the right way to keep -- >> very minimal.

>> that with the right now there is not a need to raise the minimum wage. what i kentucky as had one index minimum wage back to 1990, the rate would be lower than it is now. democrats make big hey of this. every few years, "we're going to raise the minimum wage." frankly, the right way to do is look at the minimum wage, how unemployment rates are, make adjustments as time goes on based on our need. >> ralph, is he for or against raising the minimum wage? >> you don't know where he is. historically, he has been for supporting a minimum-wage keeping up with inflation. he is waffling now. his wife only drives two cadillacs and he is only worth over $200 million, after all. this is the plutocrats speaking. 30 million workers working on minimum wage, the lowest in the western world. i might add, there are

republicans against that position. minimum wage keeping up with inflation comes in at 70% in the polls, his starkly. 70% means a lot of republican workers in walmart and mcdonald's and others are not going to say, "we republicans and we do not want to go from $7.25 to $10." this is a winning issue. in 2004, there is a $1 minimum wage increase on the ballot. there is no money by the promoters to go on tv. wal-mart, mcdonald's, all these low-wage big chains plastered tv against it, and they lost. it came in 70% winning for the minimum wage increase in florida. basically, this is an issue that reflects the craven crowell nature of the republican party on capitol hill, but it also reflects the caution, the

cowardlyness of the democratic party of its constituency. historically, this would be a no-brainer. it would be on the platform. there is an introduced bill in march, and george miller in the house, has introduced it -- has not introduced it yet. he comes from a progress of san francisco bay area district. this is the test for our two- party tierney. if they cannot even pick up on that and increase consumer demand in a recessionary economy, and the backed up by the chief economic adviser of obama, alan krueger, chairman of the council of economic advisers who is the main researcher when he was at princeton, disproving an increase in the minimum wage costs jobs. it increases jobs. it increases sales. a lot of small businesses know that, including the u.s. chamber

of commerce for women, which is supporting a minimum-wage increase in new york state, which is also stuck at $7.25. the u.s. chamber of commerce for women. >> we will take a break and come back to this discussion. ralph nader, former presidential candidate. his latest book is, "getting steamed to overcome corporatism: build it together to win." we will be back in a moment. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we are joined by ralph nader, longtime consumer advocate, ran for president three times. i want to turn to the to recent comments made by president obama and mitt romney that have become the most famous campaign, so far. speaking in iowa on friday, romney invoked the recent election in wisconsin to criticize obama for pushing a measure to help states regain

public sector jobs. >> he wants to hire more government workers and says we need more firemen, policeman, more teachers. did he not get the message in wisconsin the american people dead that it is time to come back on government and help the american people? >> there's met ronnie some do not hire more police, firefighters or teachers. his campaign has an ad featuring president obama's comet last week that the private sector economy is "doing fine." >> the private sector is doing fine. or we see weaknesses in the economy had to do a state and local government. >> we have seen layoffs, cutbacks. >> making $200 a month. >> i have been looking for a job for two years. >> i had to find my own personal bankruptcy, close my business. >> here i am, no health care or

pension critics i recently lost my job. >> i have to work part-time in order to make ends meet. a >> sometimes i feel like i'm a failure. >> the private sector is doing fine. the private sector is doing fine. the private sector is doing fine print >> that ad by mitt romney is with a caption on the screen saying, "no, mr. president, we're not doing fine." >> first of all, there should be presidential debates were they go at each other with a smart moderator. right now they are ships passing in the night, hurling general charges against one another peeving the issues are not being joined. there are two ways immediately to increase economic activity in this country. one, raise the minimum age. tens of billions of dollars in purchasing power will invigorate the economy. the second is to launch the repair america program the way roosevelt and others have done

in the past, which create good paying jobs and investment in public facilities like repairing schools, clinics, public transit systems, etc., and jobs that cannot be exported to fascist and communist regimes abroad. the more long range is to deal with the tax system, which has a perverse incentive of encouraging companies to go abroad with american jobs. and to do other things that take a little longer. but you see, there is no debate until october. with the predictable questions and hyped-up debates. i have tried for months to get people around the country to realize, mobilize ourselves in portland and chicago and houston and miami, and demand presidential debates in your area. do not leave it up to this two- party dominated so-called commission on presidential debates to rid the system. we need a vibrant, multi-month debate process.

for heaven's sakes, that a lot of debates in the primaries. let's have more debates earlier between romney and obama and third parties like the green party and libertarian party. why are they rationing debates in this country? because they do not want to arouse the public or engage the public. they won both parties to dial for these corporate dollars and put these in name advertisements on that are not really grounded in any spirit of voter engagement. >> ralph, i want to ask about an issue that has become an increasing wage issue, it seems to me, in terms of american workers and certainly the republican party is trying to do that. the whole issue of pensions. worker pensions, especially government pensions and local and state -- at local and state levels. we had the situation in wisconsin, the referendums and california to reduce pensions in

some towns. there seems to be an attempt to convince private sector workers, why should we be paying taxes to provide cushy pensions for teachers and firefighters and other government workers when we do not have those kinds of pensions ourselves? your sense of this debate, the public debate over employee pensions, government pensions? >> this is the latest stage of the divided rule between the government workers and corporate sector workers that started with nafta and the buteo and shipping jobs abroad. when congress was deliberating export of jobs trade agreements, the public employee unions for sort of stand offish. they were not going to lose their jobs. they did not stand in solidarity with the industrial unions like the steel workers and the autoworkers. now, it is the public employees

turn to get the brunt of this low-wage, downward corporatist trend that is seemingly relentless. so when you strip private sector workers of any adequate pensions -- and they lose their jobs -- they are very right for this kind of political message, why should you pay for better paid public employees workers? that unfortunately is going to be a hard nut to crack. we basically have to have a pull of economic strategy where you do not have the politics of envy between unemployed workers who have lost their jobs to china, conference of u.s. companies, and public employee workers. i think the labor movement has got to reset itself. it's got to get together and become much more aggressive.

the afl-cio building right near the white house is not exactly a vibrant fighter whether for the $10 minimum wage or for any of these policies. >> i want to ask about wisconsin gov. scott walker's recent victory. he survived a historic recall election after launching it an attack against public state workers. this is walker declaring victory. >> tonight we tell wisconsin, we tell our country, and we tell people all across the globe that voters really do want leaders who stand up and make the tough decisions. [applause] but now, it is time to move on and move forward in wisconsin. [applause] tomorrow, i will meet with my

cabinet in the state's capital and renew our commitment to help small businesses grow jobs in this state. [applause] we will renew our commitment to help grow the quality of life for all of our citizens, both those who voted for me and those who voted for someone else. because tomorrow is the day after the election, and tomorrow we're no longer opponents. tomorrow, we are one as wisconsinites, so together, we can move wisconsin forward. >> that was a victory speech in the recall election for scott walker. the significance of mitt romney saying or asking the president obama has learned the lesson of wisconsin, and what is that lesson? is it the message of walker or that president obama should have gone to wisconsin to fight for tom barrett and perhaps he would have won?

>> first of all, it was not a straight, normal recall. it was just another rerun election midterm, which turned off some people in wisconsin. they had the candidate that walker beat two years ago against walker. it was really a second election, not the kind of recall that would happen in a state like california. i would not read too much into walker's victory. he did not have the best candidate up against him after a bitter primary fight with a much more progressive democratic candidate, barrett, was not exciting. second, what is walker planning for wisconsin? ch-hink he is planning wis-ko son. the koch brothers are funding all this. walker has not made one move to get rid of the billions of dollars of corporate welfare that has been lured into wisconsin loss for the last

years. no one is raising that because the democratic party is not one that people can rely on to defend the country against the most craven, kroll, ignorant, indentured to corporatism republican party in history. that is the problem. it all starts with how many people out there are going to take some time and put the pressure on congress, put the pressure on the white house, start in circling congressional offices back home with the help of the occupied people, and push for these changes. like the federal minimum wage at $10, like cracking down on corporate crime, like full medicare for all. all of these, and getting rid of those criminal wars overseas and bringing the soldiers back home -- all of these are long overdue, catch up reforms. they have a large proportion to people pulling in favor of them. who is against cracking down

corporate crime and ending corporate welfare? there are not many people laughed. >> i want ask about another topic. by the end of this month, the supreme court will make two major decisions. one on the health care law and the other on the arizona show me your papers law. many civil-rights leaders believe the decision will uphold arizona and will strike down key aspects of the health care law. what do you think this will mean for progressives and activists and what they have to do after these decisions come down? >> i don't know anyone you can read the mind of the swing vote justice anthony kennedy. we will see. if it goes adverse, as you imply, this has got to be a wake-up call for people. listen, it all comes down to how many people are going to organize and make civic action a political action their chief hobby? some people are in bowling

leagues, some people have bridge game leagues. how many people -- this is who i call the other 1%, advancing all these changes, all of these changes with the backing of majority polls can take on the top 1% of the super rich and beat them. that is why we want people to log into timeforaraise.org, picked up the phone, get your feet wet if you do not do this, call the white house and call and tellber of congress 20 them you want to support jesse jackson, jr.'s bill. you cannot live house than it the city is because the people back home have become so disillusioned and discouraged that they just get up. >> frequently, the whole battle

over whether to raise that romney and his wealth within the democratic party. it seems they're heading away from that. what about mitt romney's overseas accounts, both personally and with bain capital, and the significance of how far the democrats are willing to go? >> mitt romney is record is a losing record for mitt romney, but only if the democrats make a big deal at it. they did not make a big deal out of george w. bush's texas' record, for some bizarre reason. why don't they put up a string of companies that bain capital under romney bought, strip mined, loaded with debt, laid- off workers, and threw into bankruptcy? >> we will leave it there. thank you for being with us, ralph nader. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]